Myths, Murder & Love

Chapter 20

Leon caught the change in her expression immediately.

Thallia was still looking toward the fountain, but her attention seemed fixed on something beyond the water.

Leon called to her gently. “Thallia?”

She pulled her gaze back to him. “Do you know what happened?”

Leon shook his head. “Not yet.”

The look on his face told her there was more. Her reporter instincts stirred. “But you found something.”

Leon considered her before answering. “I have someone I need to talk to.”

Thallia's curiosity sharpened. “Who?”

Leon glanced toward the neighboring property, but hesitated before answering.

Every instinct he had as sheriff told him to keep Thallia away from an active murder investigation. She was a civilian, and whatever was happening between them only gave him another reason to be careful about involving her.

Except she was already involved.

She had dreamed about Jake's death before Leon even knew there was a body. Keeping information from her wasn't going to change that.

Leon reluctantly accepted the distinction. “Samuel Handson. He owns the property next to the nursery.”

Thallia waited.

Leon sighed. “You're going to keep asking questions, aren't you?”

Thallia didn't bother denying it. “Probably.”

Leon gave in and continued. “Evan, one of Jake's employees, told me Samuel was here yesterday. They argued.”

Thallia's memory sharpened.

She could hear the argument again, tangled with the sound of water spilling over the fountain. Jake's anger had been unmistakable, his voice rising as another voice answered him. She reached for the words, trying to pull them forward, but they remained frustratingly out of reach.

Leon watched her struggle to reach whatever part of the dream his mention of Samuel had brought back. Her attention had turned inward, her brow tightening as though the memory was there but refusing to come fully into focus.

He waited, resisting the urge to interrupt.

Leon still had no explanation for how Thallia could know anything about Jake's final hours. If anyone else had walked into his investigation carrying details that hadn't been released, suspicion would have been his first response.

Thallia was different for one undeniable reason. When Jake died, Leon had been ten feet away from her while she slept. Whatever connected her to this murder, it wasn't guilt.

Thallia looked back at him, her expression troubled. “There was an argument.”

Leon focused on her. “What did you say?”

Thallia looked toward the fountain again as pieces of the dream pressed at the edge of her memory. “In the dream, Jake was arguing with someone.”

Leon said nothing.

Thallia concentrated on what little she could still reach. “I couldn't see who it was clearly, and what they said was muffled. But they were angry.” She looked at him. “Really angry.”

Leon remembered her telling him about the argument while he'd held her after the dream. At the time, it had been one more disturbing piece of a nightmare that had left her frightened and crying in his arms.

Now Evan had confirmed that an argument had actually taken place.

Leon kept his voice quiet. “You told me about this last night.”

Thallia nodded. “I couldn't remember much of it then either. Hearing that Jake had a fight brought some of it back.”

Leon considered her answer.

He had lived too long to dismiss things simply because they couldn't be easily explained. Olympia Springs had taught him that lesson centuries ago.

But this was different.

Thallia hadn't sensed something strange after walking into the nursery. She had dreamed about Jake while he was dying, miles away from the Stone House. She had described the fountain before seeing it and told Leon about an argument before either of them knew one had happened.

Lydia had told him to listen to her. Leon was beginning to understand why.

He stepped a little closer, concern lowering his voice. “Does remembering it hurt?”

Thallia shook her head. “No, it doesn't.”

Relief eased some of the tension from Leon's shoulders.

Thallia searched for a way to explain it. “It's more like trying to remember a dream after you've been awake too long. I can feel the memory sitting there, but every time I reach for it, pieces disappear.”

Leon studied her face, more worried about what the experience was doing to her than with forcing answers from it.

Thallia noticed.

He wasn't questioning whether she believed what she'd seen or demanding an explanation she couldn't give. He was simply making sure she was all right.

She wasn't sure what to do with that.

Most people would have wanted her to explain the impossible. Leon seemed willing to accept that, for now, neither of them could.

A faint smile touched Leon's mouth. “I've had a great deal of practice accepting that the world doesn't always explain itself when I'd like it to.”

That answer only made her more curious, but she could see Leon wasn't ready to explain the rest yet.

Thallia's stomach tightened.

Hearing Leon put the pieces together stripped away her ability to dismiss the dream as stress or coincidence.

She looked toward the fountain. “I need to tell you something.”

Leon's attention sharpened immediately.

Thallia drew a slow breath. “Last night wasn't the first time I dreamed it.”

Thallia forced herself to continue. “Two nights before last, when I was still in Chicago, I dreamed the same place. The fountain and the plants. The white golf gloves. The shovel.”

Leon stared at her.

Thallia looked back toward the nursery. “At the time, I thought it was just a nightmare. Then I got here and recognized the fountain. I didn't really make the connection yesterday.”

Leon took a moment to absorb that. “And last night?”

The words felt heavier as Thallia said them aloud. “I dreamed it again but more. That’s when I saw the argument.”

She looked at him, hearing how impossible the next words sounded even before she spoke them. “Two of the last three nights, I dreamed the same murder.”

Leon looked toward the fountain, then back at her. “And last night may have been while it was happening.”

Thallia nodded slowly. “That's what I'm starting to think. Last night's dream was much more vivid. I could feel his fear.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment. The possibility was too strange to dismiss, but too specific to ignore.

Thallia looked toward the fountain. “I don't have an explanation for that.”

Leon kept his attention on her. “Neither do I.”

There was no accusation in Leon's voice. That almost made it more unsettling.

Thallia looked toward the road the transport van had taken. “You said you're going to talk to Samuel?”

Leon tucked the notepad he'd been using into his shirt pocket. “Yes. He's my next stop.”

Thallia made the decision before she could second-guess it. “I want to come.”

Leon stared at her.

She held out both hands, as if holding him back from making a quick decision. “Before you say no, hear me out.”

His mouth twitched. “I'm listening.”

Thallia lowered her hands. “If Samuel was the person Jake was arguing with, maybe hearing him will bring something back. His voice, something he says, the way he sounds when you ask about Jake. I don't know.”

Leon glanced toward the fountain again. Thallia could almost see him working through it.

She lowered her voice. “I realize how this sounds.”

Leon didn't have an explanation either. But Lydia's words came back with perfect clarity. Listen to her. So he would.

Leon still wasn't convinced Lydia had meant taking a civilian journalist along while he questioned a possible murder suspect.

Then again, Thallia might recognize something he couldn't. That was reason enough to keep listening.

Leon made the decision. “All right.”

Thallia blinked at him. “All right?”

He nodded toward her. “You can come.”

She had prepared herself for a fight. “That's it?”

Amusement tugged at Leon's mouth. “Would you prefer I make you argue for another ten minutes?”

Thallia stopped, realizing she'd already won. “I'd rather quit while I'm ahead.”

Leon's amusement grew. “Then don't look disappointed.”

Thallia's mouth curved into a smile.

Leon pointed toward her Bronco. “Leave your vehicle here. We'll take mine.”

Thallia put her fists on her hips. “Sheriff rules?”

Leon didn't hesitate. “Sheriff rules.”

Thallia started toward the Bronco to grab her bag, then stopped when the sound of another vehicle coming up the nursery drive drew her attention.

Leon turned toward the road, but his expression changed before the vehicle came into view.

He knew that presence. Family. A dark green SUV turned into the drive. Leon sighed.

Thallia glanced at him. “That sounded ominous.”

Leon kept his attention on the approaching SUV. “Ominous isn't quite the word.”

Thallia touched his arm. “Should I be worried?”

His resignation deepened. “Probably.”

The SUV stopped beside Leon's vehicle, and the woman who stepped out looked to be somewhere in her early sixties. Silver threaded through thick dark hair swept back from her face, and gold hoops caught the morning sun as she closed the door.

She wore cream trousers, a loose rust-colored blouse and flat leather sandals. Nothing about her suggested she had dressed for anything more complicated than errands in town.

Her presence suggested otherwise.

She crossed the gravel with the easy confidence of someone who expected the world to make room for her.

Her dark eyes went directly to Thallia.

Leon muttered something beneath his breath.

Thallia looked at him, amusement slipping into her voice. “Did you just swear?”

Leon gave her an innocent look. “You can't prove anything.”

The woman's smile widened as she reached them.

Her greeting carried enough meaning to make Leon straighten slightly. “Leonidas.”

Leon leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Grandma.”

Thallia caught the affection beneath his resignation.

Helen Argos turned toward her.

The warmth remained, but something older moved behind it as Helen studied Thallia's face.

Helen knew those eyes.

For an instant, she was looking at Evalyn again. Not the older woman they had recently lost, but the twenty-two-year-old she'd first met in 1962.

Thallia wasn't identical to her, but the resemblance was striking. The dark hair. The shape of her face. The directness in her eyes. Even the quiet way she studied Helen before deciding what she thought felt familiar.

It was almost like seeing the young Evalyn again through another generation.

Then Helen sensed something even more familiar. Hades' mark.

The Blessing was unmistakable, but this wasn't newly given power. It had been carried through generations, woven into the bloodline until it had reached Thallia.

Evalyn's blood.

And the Blessing was strong in her.

Well. That answered one question and created several more.

Helen's smile returned with much more satisfaction. Leon noticed. He knew that look.

Affection and warning shared equal space in his voice. “Grandma.”

Helen ignored him.

Leon resigned himself to the inevitable and made the introduction. “Helen Argos, this is Thallia Laskari.”

Helen offered her hand warmly. “I've been hoping to meet you.”

Thallia shook it. “Should I ask how you knew who I was?”

Helen laughed. “In Olympia Springs? You could ask, but you wouldn't enjoy the answer.”

Thallia gave her a resigned smile. “The entire town knows I'm here.”

Helen's eyes sparkled with amusement. “Probably also three neighboring towns by now.”

Leon gave his grandmother a look. She ignored that too.

Helen's attention returned to Thallia, and genuine warmth entered her voice. “I knew Evalyn very well. She was one of my dearest friends.”

Thallia's face brightened. “You knew my grandmother?”

Leon corrected her gently. “Great-grandmother.”

Thallia glanced at him. “She was always Grandma Evalyn to me.”

Affection warmed Helen's smile. “She would have liked that.”

For a moment, genuine grief touched Helen's face. She had known Evalyn for most of the woman's life and still occasionally caught herself thinking of something she needed to tell her.

Helen's gaze moved from Thallia to Leon, and quiet satisfaction warmed her.

They stood closer than either seemed to realize, their bodies naturally angled toward each other as though the space between them already belonged to both.

The sight pleased Helen more than she intended to let either of them see.

After all these years of watching Leon insist he was perfectly content alone, she knew better than to interfere too quickly.

But she could certainly enjoy what she was seeing.